Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary from Mack's POV
by Evey Edge
Summary: Mary, Mary, Quite contrary from Mack's POV. The earliest phases of change in the way Mack sees Cheryl. Slightly Mack/Cheryl. I will include a few scenes which are my own assumptions of what happened to Mack between his run-ins with Cheryl.
1. Chapter 1

When Mack had entered Big Foods Sunday morning he had had no idea he would be rewarded with the sight of Cheryl West in an apron working at the checkout like any ordinary law-abiding Palms Springs citizen. For the first time in his life he regretted not a cell phone with a camera, because this was a moment he wanted to treasure forever. He strolled through the aisles grabbing his items and not even attempting to control the grin on his face. When he'd finished he'd bounded up to Cheryl's register, thinking to himself that even if every other register had been free and Cheryl's had required a twenty minutes wait, he still would not have missed this opportunity.

"Cheryl West. Check-out chick."

Mack grinned, wondering as he often had before, what it was about baiting Cheryl that gave him such a rush.

"The pay's lousy, the boss is a creep, like they say, it's a job."

A West working a real honest-to-goodness crap job, just like every other person in the world had to. Would the wonders never cease?

"Hard making an honest living ain't it?"

Mack was pretty sure that fact taking this much pleasure in another human being's struggles probably said something negative about his character, but he couldn't bring himself to care. Cheryl seemed less than amused by his comment. She held up the bottle of pills he'd had in his cart.

"Having trouble sleeping, Sergeant?"

That's what he'd been looking for. There was no one else in the world Mack enjoyed verbally sparring with more than Cheryl West.

"Not as much lately. You know robberies are down 15% thanks to you and me."

It was actually true, Mack had compared the numbers for the past two weeks with the same two weeks last year. There was a quantifiable difference.

"How do you figure that?"

Even scowling at him like she wished an anvil would fall from the sky and crush him to death, Mack couldn't help noticing how cute Cheryl looked in her Big Foods uniform. Mack pushed that thought out his mind as quickly as he possibly could.

"Well, I put your husband behind bars and you force your kids to go straight, so now Palms Springs is a kinder, gentler place to live."

Actually he was starting to miss the raids of the infamous West nest. He had no doubt, though that'd they resume in the near future.

"Do you have your Big Foods card? Or did your wife take that with her too?"

Ouch. Bringing up Barbara was a little below the belt, Cheryl.

"Cheryl, you'll never last. Once a criminal, always a criminal."

Mack caught Cheryl's glance over her shoulder at her boss. He could tell that if the so-called creep hadn't been watching her, Mack would be in for a really scathing comeback. Perversely Mack was almost sorry she couldn't let loose on him.

"Thank you for shopping at Big Foods. Have a really, really lovely day."

Cheryl's forced her face into an expression that an ignorant observer might call a smile. Mack knew better and was childishly delighted to know he'd succeeded in pushing Cheryl's buttons.

"I will, thank you. Oh, by the way, how's Cal doing? Keeping out of trouble?"

If Mack were a betting man he would put money on Cal being the first to break his mother's ban on all things illegal. Cal was very much his father's son.

"You don't have to worry about Cal. He's got a new job and he loves it."

Yeah, why did Mack have trouble buying that one?

As he left Big Foods Mack felt all the adrenaline that had been pumping through his veins begin to drain from his system. He was sorry to feel it go. It was probably the most energized he'd felt in the last two weeks. Mack didn't have a heck of a lot in his life right now besides his job. Now with Wolf, his most persistent source of adversity, behind bars Mack was feeling a bit at a loss. He knew his fellow policemen were trying in their well-meaning, if unsubtle way to keep him occupied, inviting him over to cookouts, or to watch sports, but oddly none of it made him feel half as good as swapping insults with Cheryl West. Mack puzzled over why that might be. Maybe it was that he knew Cheryl wouldn't hold back to spare his feelings and that he was allowed to respond in kind. Hadn't someone once said 'Never underestimate the value of a good enemy'? So maybe that's what Cheryl was, his good enemy.


	2. Chapter 2

When the manager of Big Foods had called to report Cheryl West for employee theft, Mack had actually felt a surprising pang of disappointment. True, he hadn't thought the West's straight streak would last, but the fact it was Cheryl that who'd caved after barely two weeks was disheartening somehow.

Standing behind the manager while he informed Cheryl what she was being charged hadn't given him any of the satisfaction he used to feel when he slapped the cuffs on Wolf West. Maybe it was that in the twenty years he'd been arresting Wests he'd never once found evidence that Cheryl had been directly involved with any law-breaking. Maybe despite of everything he said, he somehow expected better of her.

During the ride down to the station Mack had been tempted several times to open his mouth and say something to her. What exactly he wanted to stay was a mystery to him. He knew he wasn't in the mood to taunt her, so he wanted to do what exactly? Yell at her? Tell her how she'd let him down in way he couldn't quite explain even to himself? He didn't fully understand the impulse, and with Officer Potts in the car, he thought it was better to keep his mouth shut. At stop lights he stole glances at her in his rearview mirror. She had an odd look on her face, like she was angry and sad all at once.

Cheryl wasn't at the station long before her favorite son showed up demanding to see the evidence against his mother. Logan West being a lawyer, we were forced to comply. In reality without a confession there was no way the DA would get the charges to stick. Cheryl's record was actually completely clean, she never even been a juvenile offender. Mack wondered, as he had in the past, how someone who was such a straight arrow on paper ended up married to a career criminal. He supposed appearances could be deceiving. Case and point Logan West. Outwardly he looked like a poster boy for the young clean cut professional, but Mack had no doubt it was just a matter of time before his inner Westness would reveal itself. Blood will out, as they say.

Mack strode into his office with his bad cop persona firmly in place. He caught the last word of Logan's dialogue with his mother and did not doubt for a second that the curse was being directed at him.

"How's it going?" Mack clapped Logan on the shoulder as he passed him, in a mock friendly gesture designed to remind Logan of his relative youth and inexperience. "Got all your i's dotted and your t's crossed do you?"

Mack settled behind his desk waiting for West to start his legalese.

"No witness, no corroborating evidence. It's circumstantial Sergeant, it won't stand."

An accurate, if overly formal assessment. Logan West might actually have cracked a book or two while studying for his exams. Mack expertly hid any evidence in his voice that would convey his surprise at Logan's competence.

"Really? And that's your considered opinion as a newly minted officer of the court is it?"

It never hurt to play on the insecurities of a new lawyer. If they start doubting themselves their clients won't far behind and then boom, you have a deal signed before the suspect knows what hit him.

"Yes, it is."

Logan, unfortunately, didn't seem to be someone who was easily rattled.

"I would love to know how you managed to pass the bar on the first try."

As a detective Mack knew plenty of lawyers who'd had to retake the test as many as four times before passing. How had the twin of a man who thought "corroborating" meant robbing a house with a buddy managed to succeed on his first try? By cheating obviously.

"Growing up around all that police corruption was a real motivator for me."

Logan, like his mother, was obviously not one to pull his punches. The difference was that Logan West spoke with an arrogant contempt the Cheryl completely lacked. In that moment Mack could see Wolf glaring out at him from the eyes of this supposed sterling citizen. The result was that when Mack next opened his mouth he used the soft ugly tone he usually reserved for the lowest order of scum that crossed his path.

"I can make your life very difficult. All the years of study all the torts and sub-clauses, it would be such a waste if your association with a known criminal element were to come back and haunt you."

Mack felt a glimmer of satisfaction at the shiver of fear that glinted in Logan West's eyes for barely a second before it was banished.

"Come on, Mom. The sergeant's just blowing smoke."

As Logan took his mother's arm and guided her toward the door Mack was reminded that this wasn't Wolf West, that this was a son defending his mother against a potential threat. He felt a small amount of guilt stick in his throat and instinctively tried to swallow it. Maybe he'd gone a little too far. Cheryl spun to face him, apparently having the same thought.

"No, you know what? You harass me, that's one thing. You touch my son and I'll spend the rest of my law-abiding life making you suffer."

They say that there's no fury like that of a woman scorned, but clearly that's not counting the fury of a mother whose child is threatened.

"Is that a threat Cheryl?"

Mack knew it was, he just didn't want the conversation to end on her terms.

"Oh, no detective, that's a promise."

Damn, he walked right into that one. The door slammed and Mack was left alone leaning back in his chair, thinking about the conversation that had just taken place. He rubbed his chin, thinking about the last few exchanges he'd had with Cheryl. Something about it was bothering him and it took him a minute to realize what it was. Cheryl had said, "law-abiding". She said was going to "spend the rest of my law-abiding life making you suffer". Cheryl was still referring to herself as "law-abiding" as if she hadn't given up on her honest life-style choice. Yet she'd taken that petty cash. Hadn't she?


	3. Chapter 3

Mack had faced down a few intimidating women in his time, his mother, his ex-wife, and Cheryl West being chief among them but Mrs. Teoboni was bringing it to a whole new height. Literally. She had the long stern face of a woman who would not be easily fooled or impressed. Mrs. Teoboni had come in not long after the Wests had left and demanded to see him.

"Cheryl West did not do this."

Mack resisted the urge to sit up straighter in chair, reminding himself that he was a police detective who would be influenced the fact that this woman made him feel like a little boy being scolded by his mother.

"Ma'am, I appreciate your loyalty to your co-worker, but your manager laid charges-"

Mack was cut off mid-sentence by Mrs. Teoboni. No wonder she and Cheryl were friends.

"Lawrence is a liar. He is using you to take his revenge."

Revenge? Cheryl had been working at Big Foods for less than a month. How could have made an enemy of her boss in that length of time?

"Revenge for what?"

Had one of Cheryl's kids stolen his car?

"For speaking for those who are too afraid to speak for themselves. For doing what we were too cowardly to."

What did that mean exactly? Mack waited to see if Mrs. Teoboni was going to elaborate but she just stood there with her arms crossed, glaring at him. Why did it feel like Mack spent most of his life being treated like the bad guy? Frankly he was a little sick of it.

"Mrs. Teobini I'll look in this, but as of right now all I have to go on is the conflicting testimony of two people. Martin Lawrence has a clean record and Cheryl West- well let's just say their statements don't carry equal weight. "

"The blind man sees more than the man who believes he sees everything. Ask Lawrence for the surveillance tapes from the past two days. You will see which of us is right."

Mack might have been imagining it after his conversation with Mrs. Teoboni, but he thought he'd detected more than a little reluctance on Mr. Lawrence's part when he arrived with the warrant for the surveillance tapes. It wasn't much, but it was enough to ensure he paid attention as he fast-forwarded through the hours of footage.

The first West-related occurrence on the tapes was video of Heather West's attempted shoplifting, attempted because Cheryl caught her eldest daughter and forced her to return the pilfered items. Score one point for Cheryl's alleged honest streak.

Mack was about midway through the stack of videos when he found something else of interest. Lawrence, whose clean record Mack had spoken of to Mrs. Teoboni, had cornered one of the younger employees in the paper products aisle. The tapes didn't have audio, but Mack could read body language well enough to know he was making distinctly unwanted advances on the girl, who seemed to be curling into herself in order to put space between them. Cheryl hadn't been wrong, the guy was a creep. As if on cue Cheryl appeared, marching up to Lawrence, arms crossed. Lawrence's expression quickly soured. After they exchanged a few lines of what Mack could only assume was heated dialogue, the manager walked away leaving Cheryl in the aisle with the rest of the women. After a minute Cheryl took two packages of toilet paper from the shelves and held them over her head like trophies. The other checkout women started to clap. Mack wondered what that was all about. The rest of tapes showed nothing incriminating for either Lawrence or West. So what had he learned?

1) Cheryl's refusal to let her daughter steal might suggest she is serious about "going straight"

2) Cheryl's boss is a sexually harassing jerk

3) Cheryl refused to sit by while her co-workers were being mistreated

Mack had to admit that Mrs. Teoboni's assertion that Cheryl's boss framed her might have merit. Bullies don't like it when their authority is challenged. On the other hand Cheryl's dislike of the manager, coupled with the financial strain she was currently under, might have motivated her to pocket the cash. Not enough evidence one way or the other.

Mack replayed the tape with Cheryl's toilet paper victory walk. He'd never admit this to anyone, but he admired the way Cheryl had stood up to defend her friend. A lot of people would have looked the other way, protecting themselves and their own jobs, rather than intervening. Mack supposed he should have expected it. The Wests were nothing if not loyal. Mack recalled the way Cheryl's eyes had flashed at him this afternoon when he'd threatened her son. She'd had the same expression when she'd caught Lawrence pressing himself up against the young woman. Were Lawrence and Mack the same in Cheryl's eyes? If so, was she right? Was Mack a cop doing his job or was he just a bully with a badge?


	4. Chapter 4

Mack's day had started with him getting a call at 6:00 am about the theft of a Big Foods delivery truck. When he had arrived at the scene, Martin Lawrence had practically sprinted up to him, apparently anxious to give his statement.

"This was her. I know it was!"

What a shock, the victim knew who dunnit. Mack's work here was obviously finished.

"And by her you're referring to…?"

Naturally Mack knew the answer but these things tended to go more smoothly if he asked clarifying questions. Plus at this early in the morning Mack liked everything spelled out for him.

"Cheryl West! This is her getting back at me for-"Mack, raised both his eyebrows at the store manager and the man flushed, finishing quickly, "Firing her."

Mack considered that statement. Would Cheryl really highjack a truck to punish a man who'd fired her for stealing from him? It all seemed a little excessive to Mack considering Cheryl wasn't ever going to be convicted for the theft.

"If you're right this is some extreme payback for her perfectly warranted dismissal. She must have really loved working here."

The manager eyes didn't meet Mack's as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Mack had interviewed enough suspects to know what that meant. Mrs. Teoboni had been right, Cheryl was innocent, at least of stealing from her register. Whether she was responsible for this robbery remained to be seen.

"The point is, I know Cheryl West is behind this, "

This degree of certainty came from where exactly, all Lawrence's experience with truck highjacking?

"How? Did the security cameras pickup anything? Were there witnesses?"

Did he have any evidence Mack could go to a judge with?

"No."

Of course not, that would have just been too easy.

"Then how do you know it was Cheryl West?"

Mack waited as the manager's face twitched uncomfortably. This was a man who should never play poker if he didn't was to lose his life savings.

"Because of what was in the truck."

"Which was?"

Mack actually held his breath in anticipation, sure that whatever Lawrence said next was going to be good.

"Two hundred boxes of Velvet touch, extra soft, triple-ply toilet paper."

Wow, Mack had not been disappointed by that one.

"And this relates to Cheryl West how?"

Mack remembered Cheryl had mentioned toilet paper the day she'd been arrested and on the cameras he'd seen her take two packages from the shelves.

"There was a, uh, misunderstanding, between Mrs. West and myself. She seemed to think I was taking too long to replace the toilet paper in the employee bathroom and she took it upon herself to take rolls from the shelves and install them."

The more time Mack spent with Lawrence, the less he liked him. So this asshole sexually harassed his employees, refused to provide them with toilet paper and framed people who dared to object. Why, oh, why wasn't there just a general law against being a sleaze-bag. Sadly Mack had to deal with the crimes he was allowed to arrest people for. Mack's gut told him that this was too much of coincidence for the Wests not to be involved. This is exactly the kind of brazen, message-sending stunt Wolf would pull. The problem was Wolf was in jail, so Mack had to consider his other options. In the meantime he could do something unofficially about Lawrence.

"Well, thank you once again for you help Mr. Lawrence-" Mack closed his notebook, walked a few steps before turning back, "Oh and by the way thanks for those surveillance tapes. There was some real illuminating stuff on there which shows just how close the Big Foods family really is. You have a nice day now. "

Mack watched with some satisfaction as the color drained from Lawrence's face. Mack could almost see visions of lawsuits and harassment charges flickering in his eyes. Good. It was men like Lawrence that had made Mack's mother's life hell while she had worked three jobs to support her family. He reminded himself he needed to follow-up by finding the girl on the cameras and giving her his card.

Right now he needed to focus on waking up a judge and getting him or her to issue a search warrant on the West house. As he took out his phone he wondered if the legal secretaries had a premade warrant template specifically for the West family. If not he ought to make the suggestion. It really would save time.


	5. Chapter 5

A little over an hour later Mack, Detective Potts and a half dozen officers were back in the West house after their 15 day absence. Apparent from being greeted by Cheryl instead of Wolf, not much had changed. Mack scrutinized his suspect, who was sitting at her kitchen counter sipping coffee. She seemed pretty calm considering she currently had police flipping over every cushion in her house. Either she had nothing to hide or she was very confident that any evidence of illegal activity was well hidden.

"Where were you at 1 o'clock in the morning?"

Mack had to admit she didn't look as though she'd been up all night stealing armored trucks. She appeared well-rested with no circles under her beautiful green eyes. In fact apart from her slightly tousled hair you never would have guessed she'd been jarred awake by the sound of sirens.

"In bed. You?"

Mack had been also been in bed, although he had not been sleeping. He'd been flipping through channels on his TV, trying to numb out his brain. For some reason Mack couldn't get the scene he'd found on the tapes with Cheryl going to bat for her friend. Mack didn't know why it was stuck in consciousness. Just because someone performs one good deed it does not mean that they are completely innocent. That was why he was here this morning after all.

"What about you?"

It was possible that Cal had acted on his mother's orders, or done the robbery without her permission.

"In bed. Except it was a different bed, it was my bed."

Cal West. If Wolf really thought his son was going secede him as the West's next master criminal, well then let's say the next generation of cops were going to have things a whole lot easier.

"I was in Guadalahara, running my drug cartel."

Hope West. Even though Hope was the youngest of the West children, Mack sensed she was going to be far more trouble than Cal ever dreamed of being. He'd recently learned that Hope had managed to evade truant officers, the school's officials and her mother while ditching school for months . That took intelligence. Still Mack doubted that truck heists were Hope's forte.

Potts entered with the forth West hot on his heels. He was carrying a single roll of toilet paper on his pen.

"This was all we found so far, Serge."

Potts dropped the bathroom item into an evidence bag. Great only about 4000 more to account for.

"Um, excuse me I was just about to use that!"

Heather West looked outraged. Mack just hoped Potts hadn't literally barged in on her while she was in the bathroom.

"What is this, some kind of stupid joke?"

Cheryl's confusion seemed genuine, but she had had years of experience covering for Wolf and her children. It wouldn't be the first time a suspect had feigned ignorance.

"No. Not unless you think stealing a 14 ton truck is a joke. Yeah, a delivery truck was high-jacked from Big Foods at 1 o'clock in the morning," Mack noted Cheryl checking over her shoulder as if she needed confirmation that her offspring were in the clear. Their vehement head shakes seemed to reassure her. She turned back to face him with her defiant expression fully in place. "It was discovered 5:40 am minus its contents. You're going to tell me you don't know anything about that?"

Come on, what are the odds Big Foods gets hit, right after the manager frames Cheryl and she or her family isn't involved?

"Why would I?"

Now we come to specifics.

"Well Cheryl, because it was delivering paper products. 200 boxes of velvet touch extra soft triple-ply toilet paper to be exact."

Mack had tried to deliver that line as severely as he possibly could, but it didn't make a difference. Instead of instantly confessing, every member of the West family started to laugh. Cheryl at least tried to stifle it, but the others felt no such compulsion.

"It's a serious offense!"

Mack appreciated Potts' outrage, but it was wasted on this audience.

"It was probably some pissed off customer who got the runs from the salad bar!"

Mack wondered if Hope's smart mouth was inherited from her mother or father.

"So you think I did this to screw Lawrence. You're gonna frame me for getting back at the guy who framed me?"

It had sounded better when Mack had explained to himself earlier. Mack reminded himself that it only counting as framing if Cheryl hadn't actually committed the crime. As of now all he had was a pile of circumstantial evidence pointing straight to her.

"Why don't we talk about it back at the station."

At the station, away from her wise-cracking family maybe Cheryl would feel a little more inclined to be cooperative.

"No, Nu-uh you're not taking Mom anywhere, unless you arrest her."

Why is it that even the dumbest criminal knows enough about Miranda Rights to make trouble for us?

"Thank you, Cal."

Cheryl's smile reached up to her eyes as her family closed ranks around her.

"Yeah and you should probably arrest all of us, because our prints have been over that roll."

"And you're not taking it downtown either, because, we need that."

Potts looked at little intimidated at the family's aggressively united front.

"Step back everyone."

Cheryl held up her hand to call off the dogs.

"Alright wait. It's ok kids. He's got no evidence and he knows it."

The battle lines were drawn between Mack and the Wests once again. Mack considered Cheryl's words and was forced to concede that she was right. Once again the legal system's demand for hard proof tied his hands. It really pissed him off. It wasn't improving his mood that while the cop part of his brain tried to sort out how drag this woman down to the station, the other part couldn't help noticing how good she looked in her v necked spotted pajamas.

Mack held his held out and Potts promptly gave him the evidence. He squeezed the roll once. Velvet touch, extra-soft, tripled-ply indeed.

"Geez Cheryl, you know for someone who's trying to go straight, you sure got a funny way of showing it."

If she had really been serious about becoming law-abiding she might be a little more cooperative, in the spirit of civic duty and what-not.

"You got me, Sergeant. I'm the head of a vast toilet paper smuggling ring, and thanks to you and your expert police work you've flushed it right down the crapper."

So much for cooperation. You had to give her points for excellent punning though. Mack tossed the toilet paper to Heather and called a temporary retreat.

"Let's get out of here. Don't you worry Cheryl, we'll be back."

Mack would have been happy to depart on that note, but as always Cheryl couldn't let him have the last word.

"What makes you so damn sure?"

Mack turned around to once again to regard Cheryl. He said it once before,

'a leopard can't change his spots'. Mack would always be a cop. Cheryl's would always be married to a criminal. We are what we are. No use trying to fight it.

"Because you're a West. You can change a lot of things, but you'll never change that."

As Mack exited the West's residence he realized something odd about how he'd worded that parting line to Cheryl. He hadn't said that she couldn't stop being a West, but that she wouldn't. Technically Cheryl did have a choice. She wasn't born a West, she hadn't been raised a criminal like her husband and her children. She had the option to leave Wolf and to be a West no more. Mack knew she'd never choose that option and it made him frustrated in a way he could never fully explain.


	6. Chapter 6

Mack had hoped his visit to Big Foods would accomplish the dual purpose of interview the employees about the truck heist and passing his information on the woman he'd seen targeted by Lawrence in the video. He'd been surprised when he'd pulled is car into the parking lot and found a mob of protesters awaiting him. He read things of the signs such as "Big Foods Shame" and "Labor Dispute". What the heck was going on here?

"Excuse me, ladies, if I could have a few minutes of your time?"

Mack flashed his badge. Instead of stopping their chanting, they actually seemed to become louder. Mrs. Teoboni emerged from the crowd.

"We have every legal right to be here Detective Mack. The 1st amendment guarantees us free speech under the law."

Okay, that explained the very unfriendly looks he was being shot by the strikers. Mack held out both his hand hoping to calm some tempers.

" I'm not here about the demonstration. What are you protesting by the way?"

One of the other worker's stepped forward. Mack recognized her as the woman Lawrence had been cozying up to on the surveillance tape.

"We are protesting Lawrence's unfair dismissal of Cheryl West."

The woman's chin seemed to stick out a little in defiance as she spoke. It seemed the boldness she lacked when it came to herself rose to the surface when she was defending someone else.

Another of the worker's chimed in, "You should remember her, she was the one you hauled off in handcuffs yesterday for something she didn't do."

Probably true, but Mack had only been doing his job. Why was it that no one ever seemed to understand that.

"Why are you here anyway? Who's Lawrence sending you after now."

Great, now Mack was being portrayed as the sleaze's lackey.

"Your manager isn't sending me after anyone. I'm here in regards to a new criminal investigation involving the theft of certain paper products from a Big Foods truck. Do any of you have any information you'd care to share with me about that?"

The women looked at one another momentarily startled by the news. It seemed no one had known about the truck or they were all very good at playing dumb. Finally Mrs. Teoboni spoke up,

"We are choosing to protest injustice using legal means. I'm sure no one here would stoop to Lawrence's level, even when his behavior does warrant it."

"What about someone not here, someone who might have a serious grudge against your boss."

Granted a creep like Lawrence probably had plenty of people with a grudge against him, but Mrs. Teoboni understood who Mack meant.

"You mean Cheryl West? No, she did not do it either. Why are you so intent on blaming her?"

There was a general murmur of assent amongst the group. Mack had to hand it to Cheryl, she certainly inspired loyalty in her co-workers. Regardless, Mack felt he needed to defend himself to these people who seemed intent on painting him as the villain here, persecuting their innocent friend. They may have been entitled to their views, but Mack was at least as entitled to his.

"My opinions about Cheryl West have been formed from the twenty years of experience I've had with her family. You're basing yours on knowing her for a dozen days. What makes you so sure you're right and I'm wrong."

Mrs. Teoboni was silent for a moment, seriously considering the question.

"Neither can be sure we are right, but in the time I have known Cheryl I have judged her to be a woman who deserves the benefit of the doubt."

Mrs. Teoboni crossed her arms and Mack could tell this interview was over as far as she was concerned. He doubted her would be able to pry anything more from her and decided to gracefully withdraw rather than press the issue.

"Alright, thank you for your time."

It was time for Mack to complete the second of his tasks here. Mack reached into his jacket pocket and handed Mrs. Teoboni his card.

"If anyone needs to speak to me for any reason, any reason at all," as Mack said this his let he eyes fall on the Lawrence's favorite victim, "I'd be happy to help in whatever way I can."

Mrs. Teoboni peered into Mack's eyes so intently it was as though she was trying to see into his soul. Whatever she found there seemed to satisfy her. She nodded once and pocketed the card.

"Thank you, Detective Mack. I may have misjudged you. Perhaps you mind isn't as closed as it seems."

Mrs. Teoboni then returned to her picketing without another word. Mack headed back to his car, deep in thought. Mrs. Teoboni had said Cheryl was the kind of woman who deserved the benefit of the doubt. Did Mack agree with that statement? His first reaction was no, she was a West, and Wests had long since lost that right. But if he threw out her last name, if he looked at Cheryl just as herself, not as Wolf's wife, did that woman deserve some consideration on his part? Apart from yesterday's arrest, for what he was now 99% sure were false charges, she had a spotless record. She was brave and selfless friend. She was a devoted and determined mother who through all outward appearances was trying to save her children from ending up like their father. He could understand why Mrs. Teoboni and the others believed in Cheryl. The fact was that Mack wanted to believe in her too.


	7. Chapter 7

Mack's call to the forensic lab didn't give him great news. There were a few long dark hairs found in the truck that didn't match the driver, but without a suspect it was pretty useless evidence. By the description Mack knew they didn't belong to Cal or Cheryl West. Mack supposed Hope West was a possibly, but if the precocious sixteen year old had been involved it was unlikely she would have been sloppy enough to leave DNA evidence behind. In addition there was the obstacle of getting a judge to issue a DNA warrant for a teenager with no priors.

Mack's next call was to Charlie, Wolf's former partner in crime, and Mack's newest criminal informant. Mack had been avoiding tapping Charlie for information since Wolf's trial. He didn't want anyone knowing about their connection in case someone noticed how a key piece of evidence had appeared on the scene after the cops arrived. If it came to light Mack knew he'd be the prime suspect, but the facts didn't matter, only what could be proven. Mack figured a few inquiries couldn't hurt as long as they were discreet. The phone rang twice before Charlie answered it.

"Hello?"

"Charlie. Do you know who this is?"

There was a few second pause on the other end of the line. Mack could tell Charlie was trying to decide if he should answer truthfully, fake ignorance, or just hang up.

"Yeah. Yeah…give me a second."

Mack could hear the background noise through the phone as Charlie made his way to what Mack could only assume was a more private location. By the sounds of it Charlie was in a bar of some kind in the middle of the day. Ah the life of a petty criminal.

"Charlie, still there?"

A sound came from the other end of the line that sounded like the flushing of a toilet. Great, so Charlie had moved their conversation into the bathroom. Mack made a silent prayer that Charlie wasn't planning on multi-tasking will he was in there.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm still here. Geez, I thought, you know we were done talking and everything."

Mack could tell from the stress in his voice Charlie was more concerned about being caught on the phone with Mack, than Mack was about being caught on the phone with Charlie. He supposed that made sense. Mack might get demoted or even lose his job if someone discovered the tainted evidence, but Charlie stood to lose a lot more. The West code may not condone violence as a form of revenue, but Mack doubted it would save Charlie if Wolf found out who helped set him up.

"Not quite. I thought you might have some information for me."

Mack kept his statement deliberately vague. It was an old ploy with nervous suspects, let them sweat while trying to figure out what the police did and did not know.

"Information? About who? Wolf's in jail, and Cheryl's you know found religion or whatever. She's real serious about everyone toeing the line."

Charlie sounded sincere, and since the man was a terrible liar, Mack assumed he was. Still, it wouldn't hurt to press him, just in case.

"That's not what I hear. I have reason to believe Cheryl was in on the Big Foods truck heist."

"Well, whatever you're hearing must be wrong. Cheryl's over here at the Desert Dive offering a $1500 reward for anyone with information about the robbery. Why would she be paying good money for information about herself?"

Cheryl West was trying to catch a criminal? Now Mack could die with the knowledge that he'd seen everything. Though where she got the $1500 from was something of a question.

"$1500? Where'd she get the money from? I wasn't aware Big Foods gave her a severance package."

"The money's, uh, from me. You know, helping out a neighbor in financial distress."

This time when Charlie spoke Mack didn't believe a word he said. The money must have come from Wolf. Even from the inside Wolf was trying to draw his family back into the criminal fold. Mack wasn't even a little surprised.

"Well, that's all I need for now Charlie. You have a nice day now."

Mack hung up without waiting for Charlie's response. He had other things to think about.

Cheryl was out offering rewards for information on the truck heist, and using dirty money no less. Mack briefly wondered how Wolf would feel about that. More importantly, why was she doing it? The West household was undoubtedly under serious financial strain, what with their primary breadwinner doing five in the can and Cheryl losing her minimum wage job. It seemed to Mack that Cheryl might have put the money toward something more urgent like food or utilities. There had to be something going on here Mack wasn't seeing.

Whatever he was missing, there was a bottom line here that had to be faced. Mack had been wrong about Cheryl West, not once, but twice in the past two days. It was an uncomfortable realization, putting a few extra knots in his stomach where he really didn't need them. He had been so sure, though. Could anyone blame him for his assumptions, two reported crimes in two days, both tied to a West? Any other policeman would have thought the same. The odds that Cheryl was completely innocent were astronomical, yet she had defied them. The aftermath was that Mack knew where his training dictated his next stop should be. He really was not looking forward to it.


	8. Chapter 8

Mack had been standing outside the West house for twenty minutes, thinking of what a stupid idea this was. He'd sent Potts back to the station, ostensibly to check in with the lab again. In reality Mack just didn't want his junior partner to witness what was bound to be a really uncomfortable conversation. He needed to ask Cheryl if her reward money had gotten her any results. As of right now his investigation was at square one. He had no suspect, no workable evidence and no hope of catching this offender without help. If there was even the smallest chance he'd find answers here, he was duty-bound to give it a shot. Watching Cheryl march up the walkway to her front door Mack predicted that there was a greater probability of her shooting lasers out of her eyes and disintegrating him, than of her helping him.

"Come to arrest me again, Sergeant?"

Well, as they say, no stone left unturned.

"No, no not today. I mean if we had your resources and could offer $1500 rewards-"

It wasn't as if Mack needed Cheryl's help because she was a better investigator, it was just in this case she had an advantage. What with Cheryl's offering hundreds of dollars and her being a West she was more likely to be privy to certain information.

"I'm just trying to clear my name, since you don't have the brains or the inclination to do it for me."

Mack felt that was a bit unfair, but he let the comment slide as he was more or less here to ask for a favor.

"Well if you do hear anything-"

Mack let the sentence hang in the air, unable to finish the request that seemed more absurd with each passing moment.

"Excuse me?"

Obviously Cheryl thought it was equally insane. Still Mack tried to make a go of it. After all, it seemed, for the moment at least, that they were on the same side of the law.

"Hey, I want to catch this offender too."

Come on, Cheryl. Olive branch, common ground, etc.

"I thought I was the offender."

Mack saw she was still a little miffed about this morning's raid. Or maybe yesterday's arrest. She was surprisingly touchy for someone who has been living with them for the past twenty years or so.

"I like to keep an open mind."

Shouldn't that make her happy, the fact that he was obviously considering other suspects?

"Was that an apology? Don't cops make mistakes?"

If an apology was what Cheryl wanted, Mack couldn't give it to her. There's an investigation and it leads where it leads. In this case it didn't ultimately lead to Cheryl, but that doesn't mean Mack was wrong to investigate her. Before she'd been a perfectly legitimate suspect, and now after he examined the new evidence, she wasn't. That's how the process worked. Mack wasn't about to apologize for that.

"I'm going straight detective, I'm not joining the police force. Solve your own problems, okay?"

Mack walked back to his car thinking of what a huge waste of time his visit had been. What had he been thinking, asking Cheryl West for a favor? Twenty years of antagonism wasn't about to evaporate over night, just because Cheryl had decided to try living on the straight and narrow. It was a strange kind of tight rope Cheryl was walking just now, an honest citizen with a criminal code of honor, not fully trusted by either side of the law. It couldn't last forever. Mack and everyone else could only wait and see which way she'd fall.

The next day Mack received a phone call from Lawrence reporting the return of the toilet paper and withdrawing his former allegations of employee theft. An accounting error was the excuse he'd come up with. Accounting error, right. Before the manager hung up Mack made sure to emphasize to Lawrence that he needed to be more careful regarding future discrepancies in his books. Mack advised the man to triple check next time, because the Palms Springs Police hated to falsely arrest innocent civilians.

By the time Mack finished with the nervous manager he was smiling. He couldn't exactly pinpoint why. His first case of the week had turned out to be a complete waste of time. He was sure to be taken off the second, what with there being no leads, and the items being anonymously returned. What did he have to smile about? Then suddenly he knew. He was happy because Cheryl had won. She'd beaten Lawrence, cleared her name, and she had her job back. Mack was glad the woman he'd seen on the surveillance tapes fighting injustice had prevailed. Cheryl was the unlikely hero of this story, and even though she hadn't helped him catch the real culprit, he still tipped his metaphor hat to her.


End file.
